FORMER sports minister Richard Caborn was last night dropped from England’s 2018 World Cup bid as FA chairman and bid leader Lord Triesman scrambled to get the campaign back on track.

Triesman led an emergency bid meeting at Wembley yesterday, where it was decided the original 2018 board would be streamlined to create greater unity and commitment.

The survivors of the cull were Triesman, who will remain as chairman, FIFA vice-president and executive committee member Geoff Thompson, Premier League chairman Dave Richards, Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney, Lord Coe, Paul Elliott and chief executive Andy Anson.

Manchester United chief executive David Gill has been relegated to an advisory group that will be led by Karren Brady and will also consist of sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe, Sir Keith Mills, Sir Martin Sorrell and Simon Johnson.

Before flying straight to Doha, where he will lobby FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam ahead of England’s friendly against Brazil, Lord Triesman said: “We’ve got to a point where the England 2018 campaign requires focus, determination and where everybody involved has a specific purpose to help us win the bid. In our view, these changes reflect a positive development and send a
loud message of an absolute determination to bring the World Cup
tournament to England. This is the most competitive World Cup bid in
history.”

It had been questioned whether Lord
Triesman could continue to run both the FA and a 2018 bid, but his
responsibilities will now increase as, following Sutcliffe’s demotion
and Caborn’s departure, he will deal directly with the Government.

Critics were already claiming the changes were akin to “shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic”.

But
Lord Coe said: “The new board will play a pro-active role in leading
the bid with the former board members, such as Keith Mills and Martin
Sorrell, in key campaigning roles. This restructure will put us in a
stronger position to drive the campaign forward over the next 13
months.”